Greg Jefferson: Gilliland backs CD23 candidacy with $500K

Lukin Gilliland Jr., a San Antonio businessman and longtime Democratic fundraiser, said today he’d run in the newly redrawn Congressional District 23. And he backed up his bid by plowing $500,000 into his campaign account.

The first-time candidate will challenge Republican Henry Bonilla, a 14-year incumbent, in the Nov. 7 open election. He’ll also face at least two fellow Democrats: former Congressman Ciro Rodriguez and El Pasoan Rick Bolanos.

So far, Bonilla, Rodriguez and Bolanos have filed to run with the Texas secretary of state. Gilliland said he’d so the same Friday, the filing deadline.

Gilliland, 54, said he seeded his war chest with $500,000 to show the seriousness of his commitment.

“I will focus on the issues of critical concern in our communities,” Gilliland said in a statement released to the press. “And I won’t hesitate to defend myself or my supporters against the inevitable attacks from Washington D.C.-style politicians.”

A panel of federal judges redrew District 23 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tom DeLay’s mid-decade redistricting violated the federal Voting Rights Act by carving 100,000 Hispanics out of the district.

The recast district pulls in a broad swath of Democratic-leaning South Bexar County. At the same time, the judges removed four GOP-leaning Hill Country counties from District 23.

The election for this and four other altered districts is, technically, a special election conducted concurrently with the general election.

Unlike other candidates in the general election, however, if no candidate in these districts receives a majority in November, a run-off election will determine the winner.